Where have all the uninsured gone?

How many residents of San Francisco lack health insurance? It’s an important statistic for Department of Public Health officials to know considering they’re administering the nation’s first universal health care program. But pinning down that number is proving tougher than feeling comfortable in one of those paper robes at the doctor’s office.

The Chronicle

Tangerine Brigham

When Healthy San Francisco began, the department said there were 82,000 uninsured. Then it said the actual number was 73,000. Now, it says 60,000.

It’s not because more people are being insured under the program. Healthy San Francisco isn’t insurance — it provides health care within the city boundaries, but doesn’t cover people when they travel outside San Francisco’s borders.

The department uses data from UCLA’s California Health Interview Survey, a telephone survey of adults, teens and children in all the state’s counties. Problem is, it’s conducted every two years and counties don’t receive quick results. The 60,000 number comes from the 2007 survey, and the health department just got the new figure.

But doesn’t it stand to reason that the dramatic plummeting of the economy since 2007 means there are likely far more uninsured residents, not less?

“At this point, we don’t have that information and neither does the state,” said Tangerine Brigham, director of Healthy San Francisco.

The department is using the 60,000 figure for now, meaning it’s suddenly over halfway to reaching everybody since 35,000 residents are now participating. Brigham said there’s no indication the mayor will take any money away from the program, which has been a sacred cow at City Hall since its start in 2007.